Scorned Valor
by Animogx
Summary: In a world of conflict and death, it is not uncommon for individuals to band together to get through the tough times. Follow the adventures of the Half-Orc Vindicus and the rest of the mercenary company: Scorned Valor


A/N: Hey there everybody, Animo here! Now as I said in my A/N in Peach Creek Fox I would be making some new stories. This particular story has been chosen to be posted due to positive reactions that various friends of mine have given me.

This story is based off the hit MMORPG World of Warcraft, more specifically WoW Vanilla. The story will progress into BC, WoTLK, and Cata but when and how is to be determined. And though it is based on WoW Vanilla at first there will be some content from the future expansions, you have been warned.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the World of Warcraft franchise (Actual game yes, franchise no) but I do own the plot and Ocs.

**Scorned Valor Chapter 1:**

"Tell me Baitu, what have we learned?" a calm yet condescending voice asked.

"Always watch where my tail is swishing," a deeper voice replied. The sound of hooves on stone stopped all conversation. Out of a tunnel came a off-white pig man, with dozens of quills jutting out of it's back, dressed in dirty brown shorts carrying a torch. The creature looked to the two, who were tied up behind bars, and laughed.

"Haha, stupid cow man you and your kind so big you easy targets!" it mock as it looked at the bigger of the two captives. Said captive, as the pig said, was a humanoid cow. Dirty black fur covered his large seven foot three frame. From his head came two horns, though his left horn was missing it's last half. Though he was a more animalistic looking humanoid he, like the Quilboar, wore clothes. He was clad in a pair of dark green pants that had bandages wrapped around them just above his hooves. On top he wore a sleeveless forest green shirt, which was topped by a large brown trench coat. Mahogany eyes glared at the laughing swine but he remained silent.

The Quilboar smirked and turned to the seconded captive. Though he was smaller then the first captive he stood at a proud six foot four, easily dwarfing most human males. Dark reddish brown skin was stretched over a lean muscled frame. His short-sleeved chain mail shirt shined from the torchlight. His black pants were tucked into a pair of brown leather boots, which were decorated with designs of fire and wind. Long jet-black hair was mostly pulled back into a braid, the rest served to frame his face and cover his eyes, as he was looking to the floor.

"*Snort* And then you have some pointy ear Greenskin half breed as a pet," it he snickered. The second prisoner only smirked, clearly showing two small tusks.

"Let me ask you something, are you wearing a mask or did your mother have a thing for pigs?" the Quilboar bristled at this.

"What did you say!" it screamed.

"Hey calm down, all I asked was are you wearing a mask, cause if you aren't then your pretty damn ugly, or if your mother was plowed by a pig," with each word his smirk grew.

"NOBODY TALKS ABOUT QUIY'S MOMMY LIKE THAT!" he bellowed in rage. He took a pair of keys from his belt and stomped to the door. After opening it he pulled out a small dagger and stalked menacing towards the bound Half-Orc.

"Any last word bastard?" he growled.

"Yeah, thanks for coming in here, and thanks to your kin for not binding my legs!" the last thing the Quilboar saw before oblivion took him were a pair of mismatched red and blue eyes.

"Nice one Vindicus, though I wish I had done it," Baitu to said with a pout. Vindicus looked down to his sitting friend.

"Aren't Tauren and priests for that matter supposed to be a peaceful people?"

"Mostly, doesn't mean some of us are above cracking some heads," Vindicus shook his head before kicking the handle of the dagger into Baitu's mouth.

"Yes, yes, now cut my ropes," Vindicus ordered. Baitu nodded and leaned forward. After getting most of his bindings, Vindicus was able to break off the rest. He turned to Baitu and gestured for the dagger. Once more Baitu nodded and dropped the dagger into Vindicus's waiting hand.

"Eww, Tauren slobber," Baitu frowned but Vindicus laugh.

"Aww, I'm just messing with ya buddy, now turn around we need to get out of here before they notice Momma's boy over there is missing," Baitu swiftly turned and Vindicus swiped down. Baitu stood to his full height and rubbed his wrists.

"They might be pretty stupid but they sure know how to tie rope," he muttered. Vindicus nodded and pulled Baitu towards the door.

"Yeah now come on, we need to move,"

"Shouldn't we grab the torch?"

"No, that will just give us away to those bacon brained morons, now get your furry butt moving, we're getting our stuff back," Baitu just nodded and followed his friend. After wandering and dodging patrols for several minutes the two finally came upon a door bordered by two torches and guarded by just as many Quilboars. Baitu looked down to Vindicus.

"What do we do?"

"Same thing that we do with most Quilboars Baitu, split open their filthy little heads," Baitu smirked and poised himself to pounce. Vindicus took the stolen dagger and hurled it at the guard on the right. With ease it sliced through the unlucky Quilboar's throat, not even allowing him to let out a squeal. The second guard jumped back and scrambled to grab a horn at his belt. He never got a chance to even touch it as a blast of white light blasted him into the wall. The two swaggered over to the downed guards.

"Sorry gentlemen but we require our gear," he said in a nonchalant tone as he reached down to the dying guard. The guard could only gurgle and weakly try to stop Vindicus.

"Baitu confirm your kill, I'll grab our stuff and maybe some compensation for the annoyances these guys have put us through," with that Vindicus opened the door and disappeared inside. Baitu snorted, of course he would confirm the kill, he wasn't stupid. As he turned, he came to the sight of a very _alive _Quilboar holding a horn to his lips.

"Vin, is sooo going to kill me," was all he could say before the horn's loud call reverberated down the tunnels. Baitu quickly shot the guard with another blast of holy magic and ran up to him. With a strong stomp of his hoof the offending Quilboar was dead but the damage was done, he could already hear a stampede brewing.

"This is why we can't have nice things," Vindicus stated from behind him. Baitu turned and was meet with a smack to the head via a staff that had a loop decorated with wolf fangs at it's top.

"OW, what in the name of the Earth Mother was that for?" he whined. Vindicus rolled his eyes and handed the staff to Baitu.

"Stop you whining and help me with this chest," he said as he gestured to a fairly large chest behind him.

"Okay but where's your stuff, and my pack?"

"The spirits are telling me that they will aid us, so I put them in the chest, now give me a minute to actually get one here," with the order issued Vindicus sat down and began to chant. Baitu turn and muttered a chant of his own. At the end of his chant a faint golden glow surrounded him. He took a deep breath and waited for the enemy. He didn't have to wait long, as they began to flood into the room. The Quilboar at the front of the group came rushing at him with a dagger like the one he and Vindicus stole earlier. Baitu just batted him into a wall.

"QUILBOAR!" he bellowed and charged into the throng of swine. Two came rushing at him with a pincer maneuver. Baitu leaned forward with his left shoulder and rolled before jumping over the two. The Quilboars slammed into each other, momentarily stunning them. Baitu grabbed them both by the scruffs of their necks and chucked them into their comrades. A screech behind him alerted him to an attack from behind. He sidestepped to his right just as a Quilboar with a large axe struck down where he just was. Baitu brought his left arm up and brought it back down in a vicious elbow strike to the Quilboar's unprotected head. A sickening crunch sounded, the Quilboar crumpled into a heap on the floor.

"Come on you bristled buffoons, I'm more then ready to take all of you on!" he declared as he waved his staff around in a somewhat comic manner. The pig men all just let out a squeal like battle cry and charged at the Tauren. Though he seemed confident on the outside, Baitu was panicking on the inside. As they were just a few yards from him a ball of fire engulfed the leading group. He turned his head, there stood Vindicus with a large Fire Elemental by his side.

"Pay attention to the fight Baitu!" Vindicus roared. Baitu whipped his head back to the fire. A, either very sturdy or very lucky, Quilboar ran through the fire and leapt at him. Baitu yelped and backpedaled, successfully dodging a spear to the gut. In his panic he shouted out some intelligible word and threw his hands forward. Several small black orbs appeared around the spearman before they started to explode, blasting the Quilboar back and forth. As they started to stop Baitu swung his staff as hard as he could at the dazed swine. The attacker's head caved in as he was sent flying away from the now winded Tauren. Vindicus, chest being dragged right behind, and the Elemental rushed to Baitu. Vindicus patted Baitu on the back.

"Are you going to be okay man?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.

"Y-yeah, that spell just takes a lot out of me, I'll be fine," Baitu replied. Slowly he got to his feet and took a deep breath.

"Okay I'm ready, let's go," with a small smile Vindicus gave the handle of the chest he was holding to Baitu. Going around it he grabbed the last handle and the hefted the chest up.

"Alright, let's get moving!" with a nod they took off down one of the corridors, the Elemental reducing any Quilboar that tried to get in their way to ash. Finally after what felt like hours, they made it to the surface.

"Oh sweet Earth Mother, fresh air at last!"

"No time to celebrate, our escort needs to return to the Elemental Plane soon, and we need to get to Ratchet," Baitu made a whining sound but complied. The two ran as fast as they could to get good distance between them and the, no doubt, angry Quilboars. With their speed they were able to get to a road in only minutes. The two stopped and set down their load. Baitu sat down and laid his back against the chest.

"So, did you look at what's in the chest?" he asked, looking at the lightly panting Half-Orc.

"No, all I know is that our stuff is in there, but we'll check out what's in it tonight after we make camp, until then we need to start heading to Ratchet," with a light groan Baitu lifted his half of the chest, Vindicus mimicking the action not even a second later. For hours they headed towards the neutral port town, all the while chatting away. Finally the Sun began to set over the open fields, bathing them in a reddish orange glow. Vindicus held up a hand as they came across some boulders.

"Time to make camp buddy,"

"Does that mean we can finally see what's in the chest?" Vindicus just laughed and nodded. The two set the chest down and gathered in front of it. Vindicus knelt down, and undid the latch keeping the chest shut and flung it open. Peering inside their view of potential loot was blocked by two packs, a mace that resembled a lit torch, and a three bladed gauntlet.

"Oh, kind of forgot I put these in here," Vindicus admitted sheepishly as he grabbed his weapons and pack. Baitu grabbed his own pack and peered back inside.

"Wow, that's a lot of silver!" true enough, the chest had a plethora of silver coins littering it's bottom along with several bags.

"Alright we'll divide up the coins first, then we'll see if there's anything in the bags," grabbing the coins the two adventurers counted a total of a hundred and four silver coins. Putting their take into their respective packs, the two pulled out three different sacks. Opening the first, they found herbs ranging from peacebloom to wild steelbloom.

"This should help keep us in a relatively comfy life for a while," Vindicus mused as Baitu opened the second bag.

"This ones empty Vin,"

"Eh, with just the coins we'll be set, but check what's in the last bag, I'll make the camp fire," Vindicus commanded in a laid back tone. Baitu shrugged and reached into the chest for the final bag. As he lifted it he noticed that it was much heavier then the first bag. Lightly humming he opened the bag and looked inside. Baitu yelped and dropped the bag.

"Please don't let that be what I think it is," he whispered, as he prodded the bag with his staff.

"Baitu what's wrong?" called Vindicus as he struck together his flint and steel. Baitu didn't reply, the fallen bag taking the whole of his attention. Vindicus turned to his long time friend and followed his gaze to the bag. Sighing Vindicus walked away from the fire and to the bag.

"What is it this time?" Baitu looked to Vindicus and groaned.

"Sometimes I think the Earth Mother hates me," he whined. Vindicus smirked.

"You do have a way of pissing people off, plus you keep using her name for every little thing," Baitu pouted.

"Well sorry for being me,"

"Haha, oh get over it, now what's in the bag?" a hint of seriousness underlined Vindicus's question.

"Look and see, you usually can find a silver lining when things get out of hand anyways," Baitu muttered. Shrugging Vindicus bent down and picked up the bag. Opening it his breath hitched and he dropped the bag. This time upon falling, the bag's content was able to escape it's enclosure. So there, for the whole of Azeroth to see, lay a large skull. Not just any skull, mind you, but a dragon's skull.

"Baitu, I take back any comments I would of said, cause this could actually be very, very bad,"

"How bad is it?" Baitu ask with growing trepidation.

"Let me just say that you'd better pray like you never have before that this is a Green Dragon skull, cause the only other dragons that are relatively close to the Barrens live in Dustwallow Marsh," He let the implication of what dragonflight the skull could have originated hang in the air. Baitu groaned and laid back.

"What'll we do?" Vindicus frowned before he started walking away.

"First, I'll get us something to eat, then after we eat, we'll go to sleep, tomorrow we head to Ratchet as we originally planned and see if someone there can properly identify the skull,"

"*Sigh* If you say so," with that out of the way Vindicus left to get their dinner for the night. Two hours later he returned with a dead hyena and some edible Barrens vegetation. After dinner the duo began getting ready for bed. Baitu looked up to his companion.

"So, who's gonna take first watch?" Vindicus paused before he began to put away his sleeping supplies.

"I'll keep watch for the whole of the night Baitu,"

"But-" Vindicus raised his hand, prompting Baitu to stay silent.

"No buts, anyways there's a lot of thought buzzing around in my head, I probably wouldn't get be able to sleep even if I wanted to," Baitu frowned but nodded. Getting settled he closed his eyes. Vindicus grabbed his pack and settled himself against a boulder. For hours he sat and kept his senses open, ready to leap to action if needed. Around the middle of the night, when the campfire had been reduced to embers, he pulled something out of his pack. It was a necklace consisting of a sword surrounded by three swirls. He gently rubbed it with his right thumb before closing his eyes and putting it to his forehead.

"Father, is this some sort of sign?" he muttered. He sighed and looked towards the sky, just as a star shoot across it. He smiled and spent the rest of the night in silence.

A/N: There you have it, Scorned Valor chapter 1! This chapter might be short and the action scenes might not have been the best but it'll get better!

Animogx: Next time on Scorned Valor…

**Vindicus: Baitu and I reach Ratchet and find a scholar who can identify the skull…**

**Baitu: But we're meet with trouble as we're sent out to deal with some ill-tempered gang near the Wailing Caverns, and who is that Night Elf?**

**All: Find out next time in chapter 2: The Hunter Cyrion, Friend or Foe!**

**Mysterious Night Elf: Remember to R&R…**


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